For our project, we decided to create a virtual fact sheet that students attending the Coralisma Club’s "Care for Coral Week" events could view by scanning a QR code (a matrix barcode that is readable via phone cameras, that contains information about the item to which it is associated with). We used a QR code instead of gathering a group of people to speak to because this way, it allowed people to take in the knowledge at their own pace on their own time, instead of fighting to keep the attention span of a large group of individuals. This also provided a COVID-19 safe platform to spread information and climate change awareness.
Care for Coral week was a week filled with fun, educational activities dedicated to spreading awareness and proper knowledge of climate changes effects on coral reefs to students at Eckerd College. On Monday, the students watched the documentary Chasing Corals. This documentary provides important information about corals while actually showing climate change’s effects on coral. On Tuesday, the students engaged in a zoom event where coral experts answered questions about corals and shared their research regarding coral health. The experts were Isabela Rios, Marina Garmendia, Dr. Cory Kredirt and Caroline Mclaughlin. On Wednesday, The Coralisma Club members presented how they contributed to coral week and what they have learned from the experience. On Thursday, the club held an art event titled “Color the Coral”. Students used environmentally friendly paint and handmade stencils to create a beautiful reef on one of the school’s expression boards. Lastly, on Friday, the club held a fundraising event at Kappa Field named “Beat the Bleach”. This event had three booths: an educational booth providing pamphlets with coral information, information about the club, and information about coral bleaching, an outplanting simulation where students got to learn about the coral restoration process, and a sales booth with Coralisma merchandise and plants. All of the events were approved by Eckerd College and followed COVID-19 guidelines.
Each member of the group had their own role to play in completing this project. Lauren, Head of Leadership in the Coralisma Club, helped create a week of fun-filled events to promote coral knowledge and conservation. Kathryn created the fact sheet and QR code for students to scan and view at the Coralisma events, as well as created a survey that was sent out to each student who viewed the fact sheet. Jack was in charge of taking the photos of each student who viewed our fact sheet and supported our message.
Our mission was to help clarify common misconceptions about corals. Our fact sheet included information on why coral reefs are important, specific threats to coral reefs, and what you can do to help protect, support, and save coral reefs.
Each student that viewed our QR code took a picture holding a sign that said, “I support and want to protect our oceans and coral.” By the end of the week, we had 43 viewers of our QR code, and each one of those 43 people took a picture holding our support sign!
After the week of events concluded, we created a survey asking students who viewed our fact sheet to rate their knowledge of coral reefs before viewing our fact sheet and after viewing our fact sheet, as well as rating how informative our fact sheet was.
The results of our survey showed that, on a scale from 1 to 5, our fact sheet bumped people's knowledge of coral from four 3’s, one 4, and three 5’s, to six 4’s and three 5’s. Nothing below a 3 on the scale. The survey results also showed that 77.78% of people said that viewing our information sheet made them start to think about what they can do to help support and protect coral reefs and our oceans. Asking how informative our fact sheet was on a scale from 1 to 5, 66.67% of people rated us at a 5, and 33.33% rated us at a 4.
In class, we discussed the best way to talk about an issue or situation in order to rally the people to care about what is happening to the global environment. The first item on the agenda is to help correct common misconceptions by actively addressing incorrect or incomplete information. In addition, in his novel, What We Think About When We Try Not to Think About Global Warming, Stoknes discusses the role of cognitive psychology in climate change. He writes that it has been proven that throwing facts and statistics in peoples faces isn't helpful (Stoknes, 2015). Our QR code is a neat, easy, and aesthetically pleasing way to involve people while also delivering factual information about corals. One thing that awareness campaigns can struggle with is dissemination of information. Our solution to this was to record individuals who have taken our pledge through photography. This idea actually has two functions. The first was to have a physical account of each person who had pledged to support our cause. The second was to use social media and peer engagement. Stoknes also writes in his book that peer pressure and engagement can work in favor of positive change (Stoknes, 2015). By taking pictures and using social media, we create an environment where people feel inclined to make a positive change. Information travels quickly through the internet, but the process could be even faster if we used participant photographs to entice friends and family to follow the campaign as well. Finally, each environmental initiative should have a message.. It's important to use specific language that properly addresses the issue, yet also fits to motivate the target audience. For this reason, the slogan “Beat the Bleach” fits well. Stoknes discusses the importance of talking about climate change in terms of preparedness, opportunity, and security (Stoknes, 2015). “Beating” the process of bleaching implies positivity in victory over the issue rather than using negative language which has been proven to be less effective.
Blog Written by:
Kathryn Nugent, Jack Hancock, and Lauren Lowe
May 10, 2021
References
Stoknes, P. E. (2015). What we think about when we try not to think about global warming: Toward a new psychology of climate action. In What we think about when we try not to think about global warming: Toward a new psychology of climate action (pp. 35-53, 95-123). White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing.
Survey Data Spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EB-ZMRFjvx4neT_lE4xbU7LfkyC8_0BJ1qae1eZTk0A/edit?usp=sharing
Images From:
Coralisma Club Photographer: Jonathon Sakai
Chasing Coral: https://www.chasingcoral.com
Stoknes Book: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/713Q3OnMnLL.jpg
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